the end of my civil service

Tomorrow, 30th August 2006 will be my last day as a civil servant. It has been over 3 years since I started working with the Ministry of Health Malaysia because of the compulsory service regulation which was imposed just a year before I graduated. I started work on 1st July 2003 at Klinik Pergigian Bangsar. After 6 months there, I went to the Oral Surgery Dept in HKL for 3 months. Those 3 months must have been the most horrible 3 months of my life. Standing for hours in the operation theatre looking at blood and bones is definitely not my cup of tea. Nope, I need to be able to take a gulp of water every hour, go to the loo every 2 hours (at least) and be able to scratch my nose as and when I need to. It's real torture to have to stand still draped in sterile gowns with sterile-gloved-hands for hours and do nothing except retract the patient's cheek while the surgeon rumbles on about how Mr so-and-so has 4 wives and is divorcing no.2 and blah blah blah. I was glad to be done with Oral Surgery in March 2004. From April to June 2004, I was attached to the Paediatric Specialist Dental Clinic also in HKL. This was slightly better than Oral Surgery because OT days were only once every 2 weeks. And the cases were much shorter. Usually it was just dental clearance for some absolutely uncooperative kid with rampant caries. There were also several touching cases that I cannot forget. The most touching must have been this mother who had 3 sons with some hereditary muscular dystrophy syndrome. I first saw the eldest boy who came into the surgery in a wheelchair. After doing scaling on him, his mother wheeled him out. A few minutes later, she wheeled another boy who looked very much like the first one, and in the same physical condition as the first. At first I didn't realize it was another son until I checked his card. Later, I went out to the waiting area and saw a third boy in the same condition. My heart went out to this stoic mother who must have strength beyond my imagination. Having one special paraplegic child must be difficult for any parent, what more with three! After I was done with all my specialist attachments, I went back to Klinik Pergigian Bangsar in July 2004. Joseph came along in April 2005 and I took 4 months off work. I went back to work in August 2005 and shortly after, in October 2005, I volunteered to transfer to Klinik Pergigian Tanglin where I have been till the end of my civil service. It has been 3 interesting years. Sometimes it is fulfilling when patients are grateful to me for restoring their smile. Some comment that their extractions were painless and they didn't even realize the tooth had been removed. Others say that the experience wasn't as frightening as they had anticipated. Then there is the occasional extra demanding patient who thinks the government owes it to him to treat him like a VIP. They come in here, pay a mere ONE RINGGIT and expect to be treated like royalty, demanding on-the-spot treatment even when there are a dozen others waiting outside for their turn. Such patients need to know that even if he were to go to a private clinic and had to pay for it, he would still have to wait if he did not have an appointment. Anyway, I'm leaving, as some might say, for greener pastures. Who can blame me when I can work half the time, and earn double the money in private practice. I'm merely trying to make a living. I have served my time. I'll be a 'free woman' after tomorrow.